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The Biggest Surprise From Debate 2? Unity

The beginning of the second GOP primary debate seemed to me more like a middle school lunch time fight than an actual debate. Jake Tapper came right out, ready to show how divided the Republican Party is, and asked questions to cause a cat fight. Tapper brought up insults said about Trump or vice versa, and asked the two what they thought about it. This went on before Governor Kasich called out Tapper, saying that although there was a he said she said quarrel, the purpose of the debate was to allow each candidate to argue about their platforms. Once this happened, the entire tone of the debate changed.

The biggest take away I saw from the debate was actually how united the Party seems to be. All of the candidates are dedicated to reducing the size and spending of the federal government, and returning jobs to America from overseas. Furthermore, Ben Carson and Senator Rand Paul are in favor of doing away with the tax code, and implementing a flat tax for every American, regardless of their income. The debate turned the question around to the Democrats: why has Obama refused to reform the broken tax code, and why have the Democrats offered no immigration reform plan? Especially when it comes to immigration, this is an area that President Obama campaigned on with a promise to reform the broken system. Instead, as the Republicans pointed out, they have not tackled the problem, and have used it as fuel to take hispanic votes away from the GOP. Mike Huckabee also pointed out that all candidates on stage were not being prosecuted by the federal government, and for that reason, were far ahead of the Democrats.

By the end of the debate, we saw Trump and Bush making jokes with each other, we saw a strong dedication to refueling the economy, and an even stronger dedication to changing the White House and politics as usual for the better. While candidates such as Fiorina and Huckabee were a little more hawkish when it came to foreign policy, Governor Walker and Senator Paul took a more moderate approach, promising not to send troops overseas until absolutely necessary, and when done, doing it right. Candidates also came together, most notably Senator Marco Rubio, against the left’s quest to squash jobs through their climate change initiative. He noted that while increased taxes and more red tape will not affect the wealthy elite, it will make life much harder on your average American, and decrease jobs in the US. Rubio said that although the idea is noble, America is not a planet, and the country needs to make sure people can have a decent standard of living before they implement more rules and regulations with limited proof of effectiveness.

As a Republican, the end of the debate left me more hopeful than before that Hillary Clinton could lose to a GOP candidate. While the debate structured a setting for the Republicans to implode, they rose above the questions and the bait to attack each other, and the candidates in turn brought the debate back to earth, and refocused on the issues at hand. Most importantly, this issue is returning America and its ideals back to its full potential. Despite what the media says, the GOP is more united than ever, as the party perceives the situation in DC growing increasingly dire. All candidates took a turn to show the reason they stood on the stage, and the race shined a positive light on what used to be an extremely fractured Republican Party.